


Beyond Three Standard Deviations

by AaylaSecurity



Series: Memoryless [2]
Category: Thor (Comics), Thor (Movies), Thor - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Finance, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Normal High School, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Family Drama, Kid Loki, Kid Thor, M/M, Politics, Reincarnation Angst, Sibling Rivalry, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-16
Updated: 2014-03-20
Packaged: 2018-01-15 22:42:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1321942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AaylaSecurity/pseuds/AaylaSecurity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>During the day, he smiled at him and bellowed his blessings. At night, he curled and cried himself to sleep, hurt and betrayed. He was alone. He would always be alone.</em>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Loki left home eight years ago. When he came back, he was forced to question everything he had once believed in.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. October 20, 2009

**Author's Note:**

  * For [A_Horse_Called_Hwin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Horse_Called_Hwin/gifts).



> My thanks to Hwin, my Beta, my muse AND my manager! You're the C.S. Lewis to my disorganized and messy Tolkien~

_During the day, he smiled at him and bellowed his blessings. At night, he curled and cried himself to sleep, hurt and betrayed. He was alone. He would always be alone._

~

When Loki entered the office, he stopped to appreciate the view: through the familiar open space and the glass walls of the private rooms, he could see the glittering Charles River. A beautiful view. An expensive view. His father’s symbol of power and prestige. Loki might reach there yet.

Before him, Thor stopped. He turned and raised an ironic eyebrow, “Asgard is no Goldman. Change of scenery, is it not?”

“Barely.” He remembered being sick of the Thames.

Irritation flashed across Thor’s face; at least that hadn’t changed. “I meant we don’t hold secrets in Asgard,” he said more evenly, “Transparency and integrity are our core values.”

Yet again Thor misunderstood him. Loki allowed him an amiable smile. “Yet there are still walls.”

“Made of glass. Erected for the clients’ benefit. Come, Brother; I will introduce you to the portfolio managers.”

He had arrived two and half hours before the market opened, yet already the desks were crowded. Father operated a quant shop; no wonder he wanted Loki, the only fundamental expert, to diversify his strategies.

“Erik, Jane and Darcy. Value equities.”

His brother was determined to make him suffer through the tedium of meaningless pleasantries. He might have use for those people yet, but that didn’t mean Thor had to be so uncreative about it.

“Nick, Maria, Phil. Direct. Clint and Natasha. Real estate.”

He shook hands with them, barely making substantive eye contact before being dragged to yet another desk.

“Fandral, Volstagg, Hogun: the Bondmen Three and Liquidator Sif. Credit,” Thor paused, pride entering his features, “My team.”

Thor’s team. Loki smiled politely at them, “Greetings.”

They smiled cautiously back. It was never a good idea to cross the boss’s son. No doubt Thor had already told them all about him. The one called Hogun said, “Glad to have you.”

Fandral said, “A great arbitrageur, your brother is. We hope you live up the same standards.”

Loki appraised them. Knowing Thor, they might have been mathematicians and physicists. They appeared nervous, a delightful awkwardness that spoke volume of their lack of social life. Loki was a loner, himself, but it was by choice, not incompetence.

Volstagg probed, “What strategy?”

Loki attempted confidence and pride. “Merger arbitrage.”

“Ah. Goldman’s pride and joy. You worked there in Goldman?”

“He was an investment banker,” Thor answered for him before he could, obnoxiously, “M&A. Now he will bet against his former clients,” he snorted, “Not literally, of course. _That_ would be insider trading.”

Loki was supremely annoyed. Whatever he had been accused of at GS, insider trading was _not_ one of them. The complaints had never been material. “Public large-cap M &A. I was on the British Airway deal.”

Selvig called from their desk, “Great. You can convince Jane to get IAG off our books.”

“IAG is in the 99th percentile of the value ranking, conditioned on three-month low-volume momentum,” the woman retorted, “And the long position decreases our style exposure to small-caps and domestic.”

“Jane doesn’t believe in fundamentals,” the old man said to Loki, “Even when the shorts are going after it!”

Thor, as gallant as he was stupid, interrupted the exchange, “Jane, is your model sound?”

The woman stammered, “Y-yes. Methodology-wise.”

Thor said imperiously, “Erik, if IAG concerns you, you ought to review your model’s structural deficiencies instead of making unstructured exceptions for potential human errors. This is the cardinal rule of thoughtful programming for quantitative investing.”

There was an awkward silence. Loki patiently waited for Selvig to defend himself in half-jest, “Because the machine is more right than I am, eh?”

Thor shrugged, the unconcerned fool, “Yes, in the grand scheme of things.”

“Oh, I would beg to differ,” Loki said smoothly, satisfied that Thor had earned more of Selvig’s animosity, “As they say: garbage in, garbage out. The data you feed to construct the model may very well contain noise such that it is profitable only in 70 % of all decisions. Dr. Selvig’s extensive experience and intuition may overrule at times, after all.”

“Thor, the new LIBOR yield curve is revealed – an upward tilt of 1.3 degrees,” Hogun cut in flatly, “Shall I turn on the GBP-USD forward dial?”

Thor’s wariness at Loki abruptly vanished. He paused, then with calmness that was alien and unsettling, “No. Turn on the developed IG CDS indices dial first, overweigh DBAG’s condition beta.” He said to Loki, almost as an afterthought, “That’s where you shall work. Go and wait for HR and IT to set you up.”

Loki looked where he was pointing, and saw one single analyst typing furiously on his computer. At GS, Loki had had five analysts and two associates – before the ants revolted, that was. Thor continued carelessly, “Prepare before the market opens. Father will be watching.”

As if he didn’t know. Loki grinned mockingly. “Don’t you worry, brother mine. My trades will be both theoretically and ethically sound, to your satisfaction.”

“Right,” Thor already ceased paying attention to him altogether. “Volstagg, 10-year Irish strips.”

“Possible play on liquidity, supported by the margins and VaR.”

Loki went to his desk and sat down. His single analyst immediately introduced himself, “I’m Balder. Been here for six months. Excited to work with you. Ex-equity analyst at T. Rowe Price.”

It would be interesting to hear what he thought of Amora, Loki’s departed predecessor. Loki said mildly, “Loki. I look forward to working with you. Now, Balder, let’s get to business: what do you think of OsCorp’s bid of hostile takeover of Stark Industries?”

~

Loki ended the call and leaned into his chair. Balder had already gone off for lunch with his friends. Osborn had vowed to investors that the marriage would happen despite Stark’s resistance. Stark, of course, had passionately told quite a different story, but even he could not deny the enormity of the synergies and the outrageous premium only the synergies and the unwanted suitor’s bank account could justify. Yet, Stark had friends in high places, especially the courts. He was also known for mutually destructive maneuvers and his power over his board. Loki’s brows furrowed. He might need another idea before the Stark/Osborn opportunity materialized.

His productive contemplation was interrupted by Thor.

“Father wishes to welcome you,” his brother informed him shortly.

The three of them met in the cafeteria. “Loki,” Father smiled broadly and Loki let himself be embraced, “Welcome back.”

Loki searched his father’s face and saw nothing but genuine affection. His own lips twitched, more in a grimace than a smile. He wondered how much Father knew of the circumstances surrounding his departure from Goldman. Knowing Father, shrewd and deliberate as he was, Loki had been disturbed by how easily his father offered him such an important job at his celebrated hedge fund. Was he in for trouble that he could not discern from the outside?

He couldn’t help but notice how Father only nodded curtly to Thor.

To his surprise, Father mentioned little of Loki’s previous position, nor did he lecture on the market conditions or investing philosophy. Instead, he inquired only after Loki’s personal life while Thor made perfunctory interjections – his survival in London for eight years straight, his strategies at balancing serving the clients and having a life, his social circle.

“I have colleagues,” he informed his father reluctantly, somehow even disappointed himself.

“Well, fear not. You shall find true friends here. Will he not, Thor?”

Thor chuckled, non-committal, “I’ve good friends, yes. It certainly helps if you first prove yourself worthy, or at least worthy of your CV.”

Father frowned. “Speaking of which, I need you to be on an investor call with CalPERS three weeks from Friday. They showed interest in your strategy, but are skeptical of your alpha’s longevity.”

Client calls were never fun, and apparently Thor agreed. He attempted half-jokingly, “But it is you they trust. I would gladly explain the mysterious technicalities to you, if you but brace yourself and listen.”

“It’s _your_ strategy, and it’s _your_ responsibility,” Father’s voice rose.

“What Father meant, is for you to practice presenting yourself and making yourself known,” Loki intervened, no longer tolerant of his discomfort, “Don’t you want their trust as well?”

“Honeyed words of a banker, Brother,” Thor’s tone was acidic, “How, then, can I refuse?”

Loki narrowed his eyes at the backhanded compliment. He had just saved Thor from Father’s wrath out of misplaced sympathy. Truly no good deed goes unpunished.

Father sighed. “Enough, Thor. Do not cause a scene.”

Eight years ago, Thor would have exploded. This Thor closed his eyes, breathed deeply and said tonelessly, “May I take my leave, then? You said you wanted to speak to Loki alone.”

“I didn’t want to talk of work in front of Thor,” Father said to him after Thor had picked up his tray and made his escape, “Your brother needs no further fodder to his massive ego.”

Loki said neutrally, “The Journal once gushed that he made over a quarter of a million in a single day.”

“On an 80% margin and a capital base of 1 billion.”

Loki’s mind was racing. This would imply 200 million in equity, unlevered single-day return at 2.5 basis points and an unlevered annual return of 9%. His investors had received a single-day return of 12.5 basis points and an annual return of over 50%, in a world where the ten-year treasury rate was 2.4% and the S&P 500 was up 11%. What Loki wouldn’t give to have such out-performances. He could only hope Thor’s bad days were really bad.

Father said gently, “P&L is not your most important or urgent concern, Loki.”

He was jolted back to the conversation. “Why not?”

“Because you shall build your very own team. Amora was let go because she was poisonous to the fund. Our currency is its people’s integrity and judgment. You will exhibit both.”

His father’s remaining eye was trusting and cautiously optimistic, and Loki understood. His father did know his reputation. After all, he was Odin. Yet he wanted Loki to prove them wrong: for in _his_ organization, Loki would be on his best behavior, a good professional better than any other.

His father continued only after Loki had processed the implications, “No doubt you’ve learned, as a Vice President, that this industry ultimately is built on people. Skilled execution of your ideas matter as much as their brilliant conception. Knowledge and your colleagues’ brain power are amongst your competitive advantages. Young Balder is eager and willing. I’m certain you will guide him and the others you deem worthy of our organization. Your impact will be deep and lasting.”

Loki thought of Thor, of the chemistry and synchronization of his team, and how he had seemed to grow taller among them. “I shall try my best. Thank you, Father.”

Was this always what Thor had felt?

It was inevitable, he supposed, to feel a modicum of sentiment when coming back home. As he took the elevator back to the office after Father had left for another off-site client meeting, Loki pondered his station. His parents never worried for Thor. He was not brilliant, but he had an unerring instinct for what others considered “excellence” and pushing it to the extreme. He was the ultimate social animal, unlike Loki. That had not truly changed, but Loki now had a fighting chance at glory.

His optimism lasted for about two hours.

“2.5 million this month, Thor,” Fandral stretched, daring to laugh in the otherwise suddenly quiet office. The domestic markets had closed. The trades were now either over the counter or foreign.

Sif said irritably, “Ignore the P&L chart, Fandral. What’s your net position now?”

“Three million GBP. I’ve sold 85% of my swap trades.”

Thor’s face was curiously expressionless, his eyes glued to the terminals. “Good. Try selling at a longer duration.”

Fandral nodded excitedly, “Synthetics, now? Now you have my attention.”

Loki did his best to ignore them as he flipped through the thick resume books. Balder said to him, “I just sent you my references.”

“Excellent,” he said, suppressing his frustration, “Give me an update on the telecom space.”

“Got it,” Balder returned to work, “Those Credit guys are really something, aren’t they? 80% of the time I can’t understand a word they’re saying.”

“It’s not their vocabulary, but rather their logic,” Loki muttered, “Their programs do the trade, and need their approval only due to want of the programs’ sophistication for the marginal cases. They are working on resolving that, of course, incidentally making humans like them obsolete.”

Thor suddenly laughed from his desk. “Obsolete, Brother? When I _wrote_ the algos myself?”

~

_A narrow strip of reality. It was where he was reborn. His beginning and his end._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was written primarily to challenge myself: Can characters' capabilities be wildly different from their canon counterparts', but somehow be essentially the same characters? For example, can Thor be a math wiz AND the "simpleton" that Loki had so much derision for?
> 
> Asgard Capital is, apparently, a real company, which has nothing to do with the fictional hedge fund mentioned therein. Also, apologies to the actual hedge fund I modeled Asgard after.


	2. Spring, 1993

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Mother was a savior. She sobbed, intoxicated by grief. “Why wasn’t it Thor instead?”_
> 
>  
> 
> Loki remembered how tolerant he had been

_Mother was a savior. She sobbed, intoxicated by grief. “Why wasn’t it Thor instead?”_

~

There was one basic truth about Loki’s older brother: if there was no competition and an audience to gloat his victory to, then Thor wasn’t interested.

That was the dirty little secret behind every glorious feat of his. Thor craved his own definition of recognition and would do anything to acquire it. It was nigh impossible to not be reminded of that, when their father had seen fit to redecorate their living room with Thor’s trophies.

Thor himself had been thrilled. “See there, little brother,” he said to a long-suffering Loki, who had to hear it a second time merely because of the change in their location. He grasped his hand and pointed it at plastic statues of naked little boys, “This is why you ought to come see me swim. And this,” they pointed to some metal monstrosity, “Our robotics team built this. We made it to the finalists in the nationals. And these,” he gestured to a shelf of framed pieces of paper, all carrying dull variations of: “Thor Odinson, Bifrost Academy, Member Finalist/Member Champion in American Mathematics Contest/Archimedean Challenge/Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament.”

Loki said, half-mockingly, “Impressive,” then with more honesty, “I’ll never be as good.”

Thor’s face fell a little, then he lightened up and clasped him on the shoulder. “Oh, but Father says, if you apply yourself to your studies, you will do just as well.”

He snorted in disbelief, and wondered whether this was why Father had done it. He was a typical Type-A personality; he must have convinced Thor to convince him that Loki’s school trouble lay squarely in his lack of proper motivation.

He was tempted to remind Thor that they had had this exact conversation, and it was _boring_ him to death.

“I have other talents,” he said instead, “Mother says so.”

“Yes, but it’s not _math,_ ” Thor said, carelessly, “Literature is your forte, yes, but we will together work for Father, will we not? You’re aware he only employs math and computer science PhDs. You have to be good enough for us.”

This hurt more than he wanted to admit. _So_ _what, if I don’t want to work with you at all?_ ButLoki acquiesced and promised to try harder, to silence Thor’s nagging.

~

Thor had once again become absorbed in school work. Truly, the only fringe benefit to being in the same school as Thor was the designation “Thor’s Younger Brother” instead of his real name.

He did deign to visit Thor’s swim meet at Thor’s insistence, however. In hindsight, it was a terrible mistake.

“Loki!” Thor surfaced and cried, golden hair hidden beneath the hideous standard-issue cap, “You’ve come!”

“Don’t make me regret it,” Loki said, eyeing Thor’s teammates of likely below-average intelligence with disdain. It boggled the mind that despite their stupidity they had an advantage over Loki.

“A relay with me as the anchor? Never,” he dived back in, creating hardly a splash and missing Loki’s point completely.

Unsurprisingly, the swim meet had ended with Thor breaking some record or other and being embraced by his half-naked teammates in the pool. It was both fascinating and sickening.

“Keep up the good work. You, especially, Odinson.”

“Absolutely, Mr. Tyrson. Thank you.”

One by one they climbed out of water, Thor’s body glistening under the Sun. A buff, especially dull-looking boy said, “Dinner at Maison Robert, Thor? The rest of us are going.”

He smiled brilliantly and shook his head. “Thanks, but I’m going home with Loki.” He shivered, accepted the towel Loki had held out for him and wrapped it tightly around himself.

“Thoughts?” Thor’s eyes were bright and eager.

“You swam like a salmon,” Loki consciously tempered the ridicule in his tone.

“Oh. Good, then?”

He almost rolled his eyes – almost. Everyone at Bifrost must look up to the Mighty Thor. Why oh why should his little brother be any different? By all rights, he should grovel before him the loudest!

He vividly recalled the...distasteful camaraderie between his brother and his pieces of meat for friends. Thor most certainly shouldn’t swim, and Loki would see to that. He said earnestly, “As I said, like a salmon. But, dear brother, how much better you could’ve done! You have the habit of over-relying on your right arm, and it slowed you down.”

Thor frowned. “I don’t remember doing that.”

Loki shrugged. “Well, you’re free to choose what to believe.”

Two weeks later, Thor confronted him in the locker room.

“You lied to me,” Thor said angrily, already judgmental.

Loki feigned ignorance. “Whatever do you speak of?”

“You lied to me,” Thor only repeated, he of little language skills, “I shifted my posture because of my trust in you. Tyrson noticed it. He said I could have injured and disqualified myself,” he paused, and said with visible discomfort, “Was it bad advice on purpose?”

It was fascinating that Thor’s first reaction was doubt in Loki’s character. _Loki_ saw nothing wrong with lying, of course, but it was a trait that Thor greatly despised, which he nevertheless attached to Loki without hesitation. He did not deserve the truth.

He said sorrowfully, “My most sincere apologies. I suppose my knowledge in this area was more limited than I thought.”

“Oh,” Thor said in a small voice, looking torn between abashed and suspicious.

Loki laid a hand on his arm. “I’m so sorry, Brother. How was your arm?”

Thor attempted a smile. “Shoulder, actually. Nothing serious; just…sore.”

Curious, Loki shifted his hand to feel it, but Thor backed away, his cheeks red with embarrassment.

“I’m so sorry for doubting you, Loki,” he said, curiously breathless, “Have I…hurt you?”

 _As if you can._ “No, of course not.”

“I’m glad,” his simpleton of a brother heaved a sigh of relief, “You know I love you, right?”

 _Who else to tolerate your endless boasts?_ “Yes.”

~

_An abyss, his greatest sorrow and regret. A shadow from the past – no, the future._

_He could not help but mourn: When had it all gone so horribly wrong?_

~

“Why can’t I be as good as Thor, Mother?”

She stopped brushing her hair and turned towards him. She was so beautiful. He could see the sparkle and love in her eyes, and the world was suddenly a less dreary place.

 _Thor has her eyes._ Loki suspected himself must take after their father. It was strange, that he should inherit his personality but not his abilities.

She said sincerely, “Your worth doesn’t depend on your brother’s, Loki. Your father and I will always love you.”

He did know that. He could see that she did. She always was supportive and loving, and Father always so committed and responsive.

And yet…

“He’s just so different from me. It’s as if he has a monopoly on the good traits and left me with the rest.”

She neither snorted nor laughed at his childish worry. “Thor, I think, would have asked the same question,” she said thoughtfully, “for you have something he so desperately wants yet doesn’t have.”

“Really? And what might that possibly be?”

“Courage,” she replied, “To take the risks that you fear the most.”

Loki perked up with intelligent interest. “Thor has fears? What does he fear?”

Mother shook her head. “You ought to ask him that.”

Loki nodded. He was closer to Mother than Thor was, and heeded her advice more than Thor did.

“I shall be delighted to tutor you,” Thor said on their way home for the umpteenth time, neglecting Loki’s efforts to talk of something more interesting, like Caesar’s bisexuality, “Mother and Father worry about you so.”

Loki was so desperate to distract Thor from that conversation, now was a good time as any. “Brother, what makes you afraid?”

Thor apparently tried not to tense. “Surely you know those. It’s mundane, really: grades, not fitting in, swimming,” he bit his lip, “Relationship with family.”

Loki tried not to sound jealous, “Our parents approve you, more than anything.”

Thor grinned, but it fell short of his usual cheerfulness. “Yes, more than anything else. Loki,” he looked determinedly away, “Do _you_ approve me?”

Loki was astounded. “You’re my _brother_.”

Thor nodded and gazed at the pavement. Loki suddenly remembered his grievances: _He boasts too much. He’s too cavalier with other people’s feelings._ But Thor had asked such a personal question, one that only deserved the sort of evasiveness that Loki was expert at. Loki was relieved that he had supplied one out of instinct.

“Ms. Brent read my Gatsby essay to the class today,” he told their parents proudly at dinner. It was rare that he was publicly praised in academic matters.

Father looked at Loki with hard-earned approval. Mother gently prompted, “What was your thesis?”

“I argued Carraway was an unreliable narrator,” Loki beamed, flushing at all the attention on him, “He avoids commitments. He hides his opinions. He repeatedly claims honesty to be his virtue. He’s a liar, to everyone else and most importantly, to himself. His observations thus cannot be trusted, because it is so distorted by his own imagination,” he smiled contemptuously, “His narration reveals more of him than it does Gatsby.”

Thor snorted loudly, “Oh. So some do competitions, others just twist words.”

They all stared at Thor. Thor, the golden child, the perfect student, the winning athlete _and_ mathlete, dismissing a minor achievement of his younger brother? What arrogant callousness was this?

Being spoiled rotten, his parents obviously thought.

Father said to Loki, “Ignore him. He’s just jealous he’s never taken a single Honor class in humanities.”

Mother said sharply, “I think Loki’s insights are very astute.”

Thor smiled at her, and suddenly all was forgiven. “Yes, Mother.”

Caustic. Manipulative. Impulsive. Well-loved. Loki had resolved to be more like Thor. For some reason he had succeeded in all but the most important way.

~

“Father, if a friend, who professed to value your estimate of him more than anything, humiliated you in front of an important audience, what will you do?”

“You ruin their reputation with _their_ important audience,” Father looked up from work and said sharply.

Conversation with Father was always enlightening, when it wasn’t so stressful. He was a problem-solver, especially when Loki’s conundrum reminded one of his own. “However, ask yourself first: Do you value _their_ estimate enough to be honest with them?”

Well, Loki trusted Thor enough to know their bond wasn’t about to break, just because of a little revenge.

His plan was juvenile but effective. Soon enough, the girls in Thor’s class accused Thor of peeking at the gymnasts when they changed. Somehow Thor knew what actually happened, because for three days Thor and Loki didn’t talk, and walked home by themselves. On the fourth day, Loki swallowed his pride and sought Thor out.

He found him in the library, writing something rapidly on the whiteboard and gesturing wildly to what Loki assumed to be his study group.

“As a matter of fact, it’s _incredibly_ simple. See: we are to _cluster_ those nodes. We are to _merge_ the clusters. We are to make certain _each node belong to one cluster_. And therefore –”

“And therefore why can’t we just use a vector of sets?” complained a bespectacled boy.

“Because the clusters needn’t be ordered, Victor!”

Sigyn sighed. “But without the index, how do you know which cluster is which?”

“By the method I was about to explain! See, the whole data structure is no different from a forest. Each cluster of nodes – a ‘tree’ – has a root node, and the links of nodes are its branches. Clustering can be represented by linkage between the nodes. When two nodes’ pointer method points to the same root node, they are in the same cluster. Therefore, we can examine whether the nodes are in the same cluster by addressing it and thus its root.”

Sigyn felt Loki’s glare and looked up, “Thor, your brother is here.”

Thor spun around, eyes wide with evident surprise. Loki muttered his thanks to the girl and said to Thor gruffly, “Well, are you coming home or not?”

To his annoyance, Thor hesitated and looked uncertainly at his study group. He never used to do that.

“We are not done yet. Thor’s answer differs from mine,” Victor said.

“It’s honestly not that difficult. It actually simplifies our code and reduces the Big O from your N to 1.”

“Jeeze, touchy, are we? More so than usual. Listen, even if your algorithm works, _I_ don’t want to change so much of our code.”

“Well, I don’t mind shouldering the heavy-lifting. Again.”

Loki cleared his throat.

Thor glanced at him and was only barely apologetic. “Pardons, Brother. Not today.”

Loki shrugged and walked away nonchalantly.

Five days of stalemate later, he made sure Thor was detained for vandalizing Heimdall’s statue.

Loki stood dutifully next to their parents while the counselor prattled on.

“Thor is our star student. We don’t want to endanger of his chances of admission from leading colleges,” Newman said, “But vandalizing Heimdall is unacceptable. Becomes a habit, then it enters his permanent record.”

Thor looked outraged.

“We are aware of this,” Father leaned forward and hung his head, apologetic, “This shall never happen again. Thor will make sure of it.”

“ _If_ he keeps his word, then no harm done.”

“He will,” Father glanced at Thor warningly.

“This has to stop,” the next day Thor cornered him behind the gym. His face was so very close to Loki’s. “You almost made me ineligible for the best colleges!”

Loki pushed him back. He didn’t understand why Thor was being so dramatic. Their parents had even believed Thor when he insisted he had jealous enemies at school.

He said instinctively, “I’ve no notion of what you speak of.”

“You damn well do!” insulted, Thor exclaimed and advanced upon him again, crowding his personal space, “Gods, Loki, do you really think me blind? How much of a fool do you take me for?”

Loki let silence reign for a minute, during which Thor glared at him, nostrils flaring.

“Apparently,” he pause theatrically, “not enough.”

“However do you mean? That I must tell Mother and Father that you put my camera outside the girls’ locker rooms? That you arranged a meeting between Tyrson and me at Heimdall’s statue right after you stole away from your class to violate it?”

The threat of Thor telling and planting seeds of doubt in his parents’ mind set Loki on edge. “Yet you don’t even wonder why, Thor!” Loki barked; speaking truthfully was _hard_ , “You call us brothers, but you hardly ever treat me as your equal. I will stop this, if you but give up your incessant gloating and hear what I say!”

Thor had the galls to look shocked. “ _Gloating?_ I – oh. _Oh_ ,” he looked disappointed and then angry at himself for being disappointed, “What other scintillating truths, Mr. Carraway? That after all this time, I am _Tom Buchanans?_ ”

Loki shoved him away in rage. “So _I’m_ the liar, for daring to speak my mind! Very well, Thor; you shall hear no more of this, nor will you ever hear the truth from me.”

~

 _“He’s not Thor, and he’s_ miserable, _” their mother said, “Can you not see what that school is doing to him? We must transfer him.”_

_“He’s just not trying hard enough!” Father snapped, “He just has to believe in himself! No son of mine will bow to a little hardship such as this.”_

_Mother whispered, “Why do you fear so, Odin?”_

_“Frigga…”_

_“He is your son,” Mother said, “Even if he isn’t completely like you.”_

_He could hear no more, and fled to his room._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tom Buchanans is Gatsby's rival for Daisy, and is demonized by Nick Carraway, the narrator.


End file.
